we like to hear that. that will do it for us. "the situation room" with wolf blitzer starts right now. pop tea, thanks very much. happening now, president obama talks about immigration reform and draws a line in the sand for congress to take quick action. also, her final days on the job as secretary of state. hillary gives an exit interview to cnn. a huge steroid scandal explodes, including big names like alex rodriguez. now the league is speaking out. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." a major speech on a hot button issue. president obama speaking out a while ago in las vegas about

comprehensive immigration reform. his remarks come one day after a bipartisan group of senators laid out a framework for a possible bill that would be a path to citizenship to increase border security. but the president also made it clear if congress can't act quickly on that, he'll put forward his own bill. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is standing by. detail for us what is in the president's proposal? >> reporter: wolf, detail is the key word. in the past, the president has been accused of standing for policy proposals short on specifics. not today. president obama laid out a plan for comprehensive immigration reform that would change the immigration system in three central ways. first, it would strengthen workplace enforcement, specifically by making it harder to hire illegal immigrants in the workplace and make it harder for illegals to get jobs here. secondly, it would create a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented workers who

are already in the u.s. after they pay fines they would get in the back of the line. and it would streamline the legal immigration system. that's says for, say, highly skilled workers who come here for, say, high-paying jobs but then have a hard time, for example, bringing their families over. now, the white house insists, wolf, that the main difference between the president's proposal and the proposal outlined by the senate yesterday is this. that the president's proposal would treat same-sex couples in the identical way that let ter row sex couples are treated but i can also say that the president emphasized today that he will increase border security. that was something i did not hear in my past conversations with administration officials. they have previously said they think the border is as secure as it's ever been. wolf? >> jessica, how optimistic is it that the white house will move quickly on the comprehensive immigration plan?

>> reporter: well, the president doesn't want to throw cold water on the progress that they have seen to date and they said the senate had a breakthrough but you can hear that he has his doubts. here's what the president said. >> first, there will be rigorous about the details and real give and take in the process. but it's important for us to recognize that the foundation for bipartisan action is already in place. and if congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, i will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away. >> in this building, wolf, they say they are going to keep the pressure on. wolf? >> you are also learning, jessica, that the immigration reform fight is resulting in some pretty strange bedfellows out there? >> reporter: that's right. the head of the chamber of commerce that represents business interests here has been

working with one of the nation's top labor union leaders to try to come to agreement on a piece of immigration reform about how many guest workers come in here. it's an element that they've disagreed on in the past but the head of the chamber of commerce and richard trump ka have been having breakfast to work out a guest worker program. wolf? >> jessica yellin at the white house, thank you. let's dig deeper with our chief analyst gloria borger. what is the president's role right now? why is he coming out today, the day after the bipartisan senate push? >> because the democratic senators wanted him to, wolf. i think the president hangs back for now. he has a plan out there but his plan is not contingent on enforcement in the way that the senate bipartisan plan is. so i think for now you see the president hang out there and

say, look, if you people cannot agree to something, my plan is out there and republicans, you won't like it any better than what you've got now. so i think what he -- he acts as a bad cop to the senate democrats, good cop, be knowing full well that he could pounce at any moment if he thinks it's going to fall apart because he knows his democrats are pretty much united on this but it's the republican party that's split. it's also the republican party that really needs to try and win back hispanic be voters. >> i want to continue this. i'm going to show our viewers a picture. they started roll call in the senate confirmation of john kerry to be the next secretary of state. he will be confirmed. he was unanimously confirmed by the senate foreign relations committee and now he's going to be confirmed by this senate and then the president will have a swearing in ceremony for him. so this confirmation process is moving quickly, gloria, for john

kerry. we'll let our viewers know the final vote once it occurs. not all republicans, as you know, are on board. john mccain, mark clindsey graham, there are others that are totally opposed. listen to marsha blackburn. she was on "starting point" earlier tu a day. >> i want to make sure that it is not amnesty. but i have to tell you that this is some of the particulars and legislative language that people want to see. what we've learned is if you grant amnesty, what do you get? more amnesty. and we have learned those lessons so let's see what the legislative language is going to be. let's make certain it is going to be fair. >> i think they will get the legislation passed in the senate, assuming this coalition, this bipartisan coalition holds up. the house may be a lot more

difficult. is it going to pass? >> well, it's hard to predict. let's see what happens in the senate and let's see what the final version is. there is this big question of amnesty. it's the reason we haven't seen immigration reform legislation since 1986. and amnesty is sort of one of those buzz words that really gets people riled up. i mean, we've heard it a lot during the republican primaries, wolf. you were there. only one-third of republicans actually support a path to citizenship, according to some polls. so, yeah, this is going to be a problem, which is why this bipartisan bill in the senate says that you have to deal with enforcement first. you have to make sure the borders are secure before you can proceed to any kind of path to citizenship which, by the way, wolf, does not happen overnight. i mean, when you say amnesty, people think you're going to get amnesty and it happens overnight. that's not the case in this version in the senate right now.

>> it's very interesting the role of marco rubio, the republican senator of florida, himself an immigrant from cuba to the united states. he's out there selling this comprehensive immigration reform legislation to some skeptics, including on the rush limbaugh show today. listen to this. >> i think there's this false argument that's been advanced by the left that conservatism and republicans are anti-immigrant and anti-immigration and we are not. never have been. we are pro-legal immigration and we recognize that our legal immigration system needs to be reformed. we also recognize, because conservatism has always been about commonsense, that we have an existing problem that has to be belt with in the best way possible. >> how important is rubio's role in getting this comprehensive legislation reform passed? >> i don't think you can overstate it, wolf. it's very, very important. here's someone with undeniable conservative credentials, a bona

fide member of the tea party who is effectively trying to save, i would argue, save the republican party from itself on the question of immigration. is he somebody that can go on the rush limbaugh show and say, look, i care about enforcement. we have to secure the borders but we have to find a way out of the immigration mess that we have. so he's got credibility, not only with the republican party but also with a lot of democrats on this issue. i believe he's staking his entire political career on it and, as i said, helping the republican party in his own way. i mean, this is somebody, wolf, you know who is thinking about the presidency. >> certainly is true. gloria, thanks very much. we're going to have much more on the comprehensive immigration reform debate coming up later in "the situation room." right now we have something coming in. the secretary of state hillary

clinton in her final days on the job sitting down with cnn for what is being described as her exit interview. she talked about her recent health problems including the blood clot that had her in the hospital. listen to what she told our jill dougherty. >> if you had one blood clot, there is two times chance that you will have another one. >> uh-huh. >> is this something you're going to have to deal with for a long time? >> millions of people do. it's very common. >> do you take medication? >> that's what people do when you have blood clots and then you get evaluated after the blood clot has resolved. as you say, i've experienced this before. but i am lucky because i have been very healthy. i feel great. i have enormous amounts of energy that has to be harnessed and focused. so i'm very fortunate and i'm looking forward to this next chapter in my life, whatever it is. >> the full interview, by the way, with the secretary of state, it will air here in "the

situation room" in the next hour as well as the 6:00 p.m. eastern. she goes through a wide, wide range of issues, including national security issues and what about 2016? is she really interested in running for president again? the interview will be airing here in "the situation room." as we saw earlier, the senate is voting on hillary clinton's replacement, the confirmation of john kerry. he will be confirmed and he will be the next secretary of state, the senator from massachusetts. we'll get you the role cal number as soon as it is finished. the head of the rifle association and husband of gabrielle giffords will square off on gun control. and stunning housing numbers and what it means for the u.s. economy. [ male announcer ] what are happy kids made of?

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ask your doctor about symbicort. i got my first prescription free. call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. the gun control debate is certain to heat up tomorrow at a closely watched hearing on capitol hill. all eyes will be on two very well-known figures who are set to square off. cnn's chief congressional correspondent dana bash is joining us. you had had a chance to speak with mark kelly, the husband of gabrielle giffords. he's getting ready to testify tomorrow. what did he say to you? >> reporter: that's right. i spoke with him by phone a short while ago. he said that he and gabby giffords are both gun owners and that he actually thought about joining the nra but never got around to it. when it comes to wayne la peaier, the two have never met but he hopes that they can have

a constructive conversation about how to tackle gun violence. two staunch supporters of the second amendment, two very different views on guns. >> they are god given freedoms. they belong to us in the united states of america as our birth right. no government gave them to us and no government can ever take them away. >> i defended the second amendment flying in combat over iraq in kuwait, you know, defending our country. i own a gun. this really isn't about the second amendment. >> reporter: these will be the star witnesses at congresses' first hearing since the shooting in newtown. mark kelly, the husband of gabby giffords who was shot in the head, six people died in the attack. the couple are gun owners themselves and used to practice at an nra range. now they are taking on the powerful gun lobby. kelly tells cnn they support extensive gun control, including

restricting high-capacity weapons, like the one used by giffords' shooter. >> he was taken down after unloading ten rounds in a magazine, then there would certainly be other people that didn't -- that died that day that would be alive today. >> reporter: as the nra's executive director, wayne lapierre is the defender of gun rights. his prepared testimony released by the nra sounds familiar warnings. law-eye biding gun owners will not take responsibility for criminals nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own. he will have avid defenders on the committee holding the hearing, like orrin hatch. >> well, after years of being pushed around, it's tough for them not to be combative. wayne lapierre is one of the nicest, kindest people you'll ever meet but he really does believe in the second amendment, as do i. >> reporter: le go head to head with dianne feinstein.

>> he makes his claim that everybody is entitled to these weapons. my view is, everybody is entitled to be safe. >> reporter: she called the nra veen nal but insists it's not personal with lapierre. >> he wants one thing, i want an entirely different thing. he's there for gun people, to allow them to have these guns regardless. they are fought virtually every kind of regulation. the time has come to change course. >> reporter: and when it comes to legislation, feinstein isn't only going to have to convince republicans. one of the interesting dynamics on this committee that is holding this hearing tomorrow is that the democratic chairman, wolf, pat leahy, is a supporter of gun rights. feinstein is concerned that the witness list is too skewed towards proponents of gun owners. >> so what you're saying is

little dispute going on between dianne feinstein and patrick leahy, they are both democrats and on the liberal side of the democratic party but when it comes to gun rights, they disagree? >> reporter: that's right. they do disagree. i tried to interview patrick leahy. he said to watch the hearing tomorrow. he's known as la liberal but on gun issues not so much and definitely differs with his colleague, dianne feinstein on this issue. >> we're going to invite him here in "the situation room" and background checks, assault-weapon type guns and see what he has to say. thank very much. good idea even though you didn't propose it, i thought of it myself. good idea, dana. thank you. home prices in 20 major cities jumped 5.5% in november,

the biggest gain in six years. tom foreman is here with a look inside the numbers. that's a pretty i am fres sif jump, tom. >> it is. you have been waiting, waiting, waiting for this kind of news. back in july, home prices up about 1.2%. in august, 2%. 3% september, 4.3 in october and 5.5% in november. not only is this an increase in home values but really important to economists. it's a trend. a movement steady over time to show improving home values. let's look at the values. there are 20 cities surveyed and in every one of them, except for new york, values went up from november 2011 to november 2012. look at this in tampa, 6.8% up. in chicago, almost a percentage up. phoenix, almost 23% higher. las vegas, 10% higher. san francisco, 12.7% higher. these are all very good signs,

wolf. as i said, it's more of a trend that matters here, especially if you're a homeowner there waiting for your home value to come back. that trend is working in your favor, not just a one-month blip. wolf? >> does all of this mean, tom, that the housing market is making up for lost ground? >> it is. i'm. here comes the dark cloud to go with the silver lining. it really is important. remember, these are relative numbers, relative to where it was in 2011, not necessarily relative to where it was a long time ago. go to las vegas, one of the hardest hit areas. back in february 2006, an average home there was worth $315,000. and wolf, look at that home in december 2012. you want to guess how much that same home was worth in december last year? >> let me guess, it was worth $300,000. >> no. they would be thrilled if it were. that same home was worth $123,700. the simple truth is, this house

has a long way to go to get back to the value it had back in 2006. and in the hardest hit markets all over the country, that is true. this is a very good trend but this trend has to not only settle in but stay that way for a good number of years, wolf, before many of these homeowners would be able to say my house is once again what it was worth back in the mid-2000s. >> those are pretty impressive numbers, i must say. tom, good report. thank you. you can find much more on this story, including how to play the housing market. go to cnnmoney.com and you will get a lot of useful information. this is something you don't see every day. take a close look at this. it's a massive, massive wave. to get an idea of its size, look at that little white line out in front. that's a surfer. stay tune for more on where this happened, what causes such huge, huge waves.

check out these monster 100-foot waves off portugal. that tiny line is somebody riding a -- look at that. riding a surf board trying to set a new world record. our meteorologist chad myers is joining us right now. chad, what's going on here? >> amazing waves there. and this is the place in the world that surfers from hawaii will fly to to get waves like this. there's a little phenomena going on. under the surface is where this wave is truly generated. there are very large waves and winds right now across ice land, a very big low. i'll show that you in a second. but come to me here and i'll

show you google earth. what happens here happens nowhere else in the world. the continental shelf of portugal is here. it is also here. the continental shelf is not right here. that is a canyon that comes out of the atlantic ocean and funnels all of that water to one spot and that one spot is nazare, portugal. people flock to this area every single year. the lows are up here near ice land bringing the waves and the wind in this direction for days and days and days, blows all of that water into that canyon. the water goes straight through the canyon, doesn't break off shore because there's no continent continental shelf. the breakers happen right close to shore and they get that big. >> always that big or are these a little bigger than usual? >> oh, these are bigger than usual but a 50-footer is certainly a normal day.

the 100 footers happen when you get a big low here in the winter and even in hawaii, if you want to see big waves, you go in the winter because that's when the storms are the biggest. this had a lower pressure than sandy. this is a big thing. this is a lot of wind. it's not a hurricane because it's not warm water. the wind was pushing those waves day after day after day and finally they had that one caught on tape. what a huge, huge swell. >> chad, thanks very much. those pictures are really, really amazing. i guess the sur first must love, love those waves. baseball stars linked to a new steroid scandal. the league is now speaking out. we'll have details. i have the flu...

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watching it all unfold, not only millions of undocumented immigrants but also people who live along the u.s.-mexico border. cnn's casey wian is there for us in arizona, one of the frontlines in the dispute. what's the reaction to folks you're speaking to there along the border to what the president just said? >> reporter: a lot of skepticism, wolf. you can see over my right shoulder the fence that separates arizona from mexico and you can see a town naco and we have been speaking with ranchers and the local sheriff and despite the fact that the apprehension numbers are down, which means in its view fewer people are trying to cross the border illegally, in rule places like this, it's just as dangerous as ever and they say it's far too soon for comprehensive immigration reform because they stay in places like

arizona. this border is just not secure. >> they are all over and to our rural communities coming through there, and we're dealing with murders a couple years ago so i would say no. >> there's going to be a bunch more people come as soon as he talks about immigration reform and pathway to citizenship. trying to get here while they can and take advantage of the pathway to citizenship. >> reporter: now, that rancher, john ladd, he owns 14,000 acres of ranch land along this border. we spent some time with him this morning. he talked about people coming over the wall. just on friday, he said two truckloads of drug smugglers cut through this border fence, cut his fence and went through his property with loads of

marijuana. local sheriff's gave chase, the smugglers ended up escaping. that rancher says that's the 28th and 29th vehicles, drug smuggling vehicles that has crossed his property in the past year, wolf. >> casey wian, thank you. of course, this is not the first major push for immigration reform. we've seen a fact that president obama noted in his speech of las vegas. >> so at this point it looks like there's a genuine desire to get this done soon and that's very encouraging. but this time action must follow. we can't allow immigration reform to get bogged down in an endless debate. we've been debating this for a very long time. >> let's talk about that and more with the democrat skrat particular strategist maria

cardona and anna navarro. ana, several of members of your own party and support this comprehensive immigration reform right now deal with that. >> i think senator marco rubio is dealing with it exactly the right way. is he going straight to the people. he is going to some of the talk shows and incredible time and energy, wolf, in selling this and explaining this in lay terms, explaining the problem and why it has to be solved. listen, we don't need to get all republicans, we don't need to get all democrat. we just need enough to get this passed and what the republican and democrat senators did yesterday in one day going before the president changed the substance of what the president was going to do today, i think they may have saved this baby by going ahead one day. >> we heard earlier, maria, that

one different that the bipartisan group is proposing and the president is proposing involves same-sex couples. the president wants to treat everyone the same. some republicans and others have a problem with that. listen to what john mccain -- he said on cbs this morning. >> it's something that, frankly, is not of paramount importance. we'll have to look at it and gauge how the majority of congress feels and frankly we will address in time. >> the president didn't say anything about same-sex couples in the speech even though some of his aides have been saying he wants everyone to be treated the same, heterosexual, same-sex couples, if you will. how big of a problem is this going to be? >> well, my hope is that neither side will allow that to be a huge sticking point. now, there's no question that that is what the president believes. clearly this was a big issue

during the campaign when he came out in favor of equal rights for guy and lesbian couples and we've seen the majority of americans are with the president on that. but i think on this issue, wolf, we have some room to negotiate and i agree that it was very smart for the senators to go out in front of the president, for the president to come out and talk about what his proposal framework is and it is different than what the senator hands out because it does give that you wriggle room to negotiate to figure out what are the best pieces that we can move forward with that both sides agree on. it will still be an up hill battle but both sides are aligned to get this done. >> the latino vote is the fastest growing vote in the united states right now. let's say it collapses and the public out there, hispanics blame the republicans for the collapse. nothing is past passed. how does that affect the 2014

midterm elections? >> i think if it doesn't pass, it will be huge disapointment and sadness, wolf. i've been there before. i've been in this for 20 years. i've shed many tears of disappointment. i hope that's not the case. i'm feeling more optimistic than i have in many, many years when it comes to immigration. i think maria is right. listen, as long as president obama can think and propose whatever he wants, as long as he doesn't make them firm lines on the sand and respects the bipartisan process going on in both senate and house, this has a shot. these senators are seasoned veterans of the immigration battles. they know the art of the possible. they know what they can push and what is viable to get it it passed and they are invested in getting something passed. support them from the outside but don't meddle and become a problem and something like that

lbgt issue would have been a poison pill so i'm very glad he didn't mention it. >> maria car dove have a and ana navarro, thank you. >> thank you. we're following brand-new allegations linking big-time athletes to performance enhancing drugs. a woman of new york decides to take a trip of a lifetime by herself and now she hasn't been heard from for weeks. we'll have the latest details. l wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply. pretty sweet, huh? cute. but don't you have any apps on your phone that can make your life easier? who do you think i am, quicken loans?

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all right. john kerry, by the way, has just been approved. his confirmation has been approved as the next secretary

of state overwhelming vote. three republican senators, john cornyn of texas, james i am houf, republican of oklahoma reported against that confirmation but overwhelmingly, john kerry will be leading the united states senate to succeed the secretary of state hillary clinton. that's going to be happening very, very soon. her last day is friday. major league baseball today confirmed its in the midst of an active investigation, players using performance enhancing drugs. this comes after a florida newspaper linked the players to a miami clinic that says it is under investigation for allegedly providing drugs to sports biggest names. cnn's john zarrella is in miami and has been reporting on this, looking into it. what are you finding out, john? >> reporter: you know, wolf, up until about a month ago in this office building behind me in a first floor corner office, there

was a company called biogenesis and it was an anti-aging clinic. it's become a centerpiece in yet another saga of major league baseball players and performance enhancing drugs. the miami new times is reporting that buy joeagain na sis was a direct pipeline for some ball players to these performance enhancing drugs. we spoke to the writer of the article. >> it's clear that bioagain ne sis was selling a lot of drugs that are widely banned in sports, testosterone, anabolic steroids. the records we've seen indicate, you know, as for the average population, he was providing the same drugs to professional athletes.

>> reporter: now, the "knew times" did a three-month investigation and part of the investigation found that three of the ball players that they identified in their reporting have already served suspensions imposed by major league baseball. wolf? >> what's major league baseball saying about all this? >> reporter: you know, as you mentioned at the top, major league baseball issued a statement and in part the statement reads, we are in the midst of an active investigation and are gathering and reviewing information. we will refrain from further comment until this process is complete. now, beyond that, alex rodriguez, a new york yankees slugger, was named in this article from documents that the "new times" says it obtained on biogenessis. people on behalf of alex rodriguez wrote, the news reports about a purported relationship between alex rodriguez and anthony bosch are

not true. he was not mr. bosch's patient, he was never treated by him or add viced by him. a washington nationals pitcher was also named in the article. he tweeted out today, quote, i've never used performance enhancing drugs of any kind and i never will. i've never met or spoken with tony bosch or used any substances. tony bosch, the man being referenced by both players, is according to the "new times," the man who ran this clinic. bosch was investigated back in 2009 but no charges were ever filed against bosch and we did try to reach all day today and continued to try to reach mr. bosch for comment but we have had no luck finding him or getting through to him. wolf? >> pretty firm denials, though, from two of those ball players that you just saw. >> yes. >> thanks so much. i know you're working the story for us. a desperate search for a new

york woman missing in turkey. and now new clues coming in from istanbul. cnn is live on the scene. we'll share you the details when we come back. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye.

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the family of a new york woman in turkey is now pleading for help. she hasn't been seen in more than a week and now her husband, her brother, they are in turkey. this is video showing they are trying to find out what is going on. ivan watson is joining us from istanbul. what is the latest on this mystery, ivan? >> reporter: wolf, american and turkish authorities are working

together to try to solve this mystery of the 33-year-old american mother of two who disappeared while on vacation in istanbul more than a week ago. today turkish police released security footage of the last moment that she was seen in public before she disappeared. a lone american woman on vacation in turkey. this video shows a 33-year-old mother two of in an istanbul shopping mall on january 20th. she hasn't been heard from, her worried husband says, in more than a week. >> you know, the fear that i'm not there to protect her, you know, and that bothers me. >> reporter: sierra flew to istanbul on january 7th. it was this native new yorker's first international trip, family and friends say, and she made the journey solo. >> she did a lot of homework

before she left. she did a lot of research about the area, about where she was going to stay, the safest places to go and the time of days to travel. >> reporter: her instagram feed shows stunning skylines and mosques. turkish police believe sierra flew from turkey to the netherlands on january 15th and returned to turkey four days later. the manager of sierra's hotel in istanbul tells cnn he he last saw her on january 20th, the same night this security camera video was shot. she left her passport and most of her belongings behind in the hotel, family members say, but not her ipad, which she appeared to be using in the food court of the shopping mall. this week, sierra's husband and brother traveled from new york to istanbul. on tuesday they spent the day at police headquarters here,

meeting with officers from the missing person's unit. both authorities are working hand in hand on the search. >> all authorities, everyone from the u.s. to the locals in turkey are looking at this as a missing person. they elevated it to every level possible. the bureau chief of missing persons is looking. i know that they are conducting a very logical investigation and they are pulling out all of the stops. >> while investigators work, family and friends hope and pray they can soon bring this missing mother back to her children. >> reporter: now, wolf, a church in new york has helped raise some funds for the husband and brother of sierra to help pay for their trip over here to turkey and while the family waits and hopes, they are not telling her two children that their mother has gone missing. so a very difficult period for the sierra family right now. wolf? >> hope she is found and found

quickly. thanks very much. a terrible accident has put a new spotlight on extreme sport. critics say people are putting themselves in ex training danger so others can make big money. oil changes at meineke are always a great deal.

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a horrific accident has ignited a new round of questions about the dangers of the so-called extreme sports, especially questions about whether safety is taking a back seat to money. cnn's brian todd is joining us. the video is very dramatic. >> the x games have always had had inherent risks and that's what is so thrilling to many fans but today many observers are asking do they have to have an event where a 450-pound snow mobile does a backflip off a ramp. more questions made urgent by the fact that a snowmobiler is now fighting for his life. what's usually a charge for the fans turned horrifying in a nanosecond. kale lebanon moore attempting to backflip, the skis dug into the flip of the slope and the machine came crashing down on

top of him. a concussion was first diagnosed but doctors discovered bleeding around his heart. >> emergency heart surgery and complications from that surgery that led to a brain injury, brain complications. >> reporter: the family says moore is in critical condition and is asking for continued prayers for his recovery. a nurse who is not involved in this case -- >> this sounds very sire yous. he's critically injured at this point. >> reporter: moore is not the only athlete. his brother colton suffered a separated pelvis. a skier had a spinal fracture. it's not just the athletes at risk. look what happened in another snowmobile crash. it plowed into the bank of spectators. >> has this gone too far? flipping a snowmobile, is it too dangerous to continue these games? >> it sounds like there's been a

number of injuries at the winter x games, including pelvic injuries, spine injuries. they do train all year for this. but it's important for the folks watching at home to realize that these acts, while exciting to watch, are potentially life threatening, limb threaten itting, and brain threatening acts if an accident should occur. >> but the thrill of these events for viewers and of profit margins are hard to resist. for the athletes, the games mean endorsement dollars. these are the olympics. and espn which organizes and televises the games a short time ago e-mailed a statement on the x game injuries. it said, in part, we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes and still one of the best complete and risks remain.

caleb fell short on his rotation and on a move he has landed several times previously. it's constantly working to ensure spectator safety. in relation to that accident where the snowmobile ran into the bank of spectators. >> cnn is also expanding these games significantly. isn't that right? >> they certainly are. they are going more global with them as well. they have added two more events in aspen and france. they are adding four more games, including in brazil, germany, and barcelona. they are expanding them and it's a huge money maker for espn. >> brian todd, thank you. you're in "the situation room." happening now, hillary clinton's exit interview. the outgoing secretary of state talks to cnn about the latest turmoil in the middle east and her legacy at home and abroad. an arook war veteran who lost all four limbs to a

roadside bomb and a transplant giving him new hope. a sibling rivalry that is certain to become part of the history of famous brothers. weapon want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> hill clinton is winding down her time among new chaos in the middle east. she just sat down for an exit interview with cnn's foreign affair correspondent, jill dougherty, and elise labott. >> thanks to both of you. i've enjoyed you being part of the flying circus act as we

traverse the globe and appreciate the attention that cnn pays to international news stories. it makes a big difference. >> it's great to hear that. well, in typical cnn style, let's begin with the news. egypt. >> yes. >> turmoil. >> yes. >> 60 people, approximately, dead. the head of the army says that the state could actually fall apart, disintegrate. is he right? >> i hope not because i think that would lead to incredible chaos and violence on a scale that would be devastating to egypt and the region but there has to be some understanding by the new government that the as sper ragss that the people were expressing during the revolution in egypt have to be taken seriously and it cannot in any way be overlooked that there is a large number of egyptians who are not satisfied with the

direction of the economy and the political reform. this is not an easy task. i have to jump in and say that we can sit here and talk about it from a distance. it's very difficult going from a closed regime and essentially a one-man rule to a democracy that is trying to be born and learn to walk. but there are some clear lessons. you have to represent all of the people and the people have to believe that. you have to have the rule of law that applies to everyone, not just to some of the people. you have to have a constitution that respects and recognizes the rights of all people and doesn't in any way marginalize any group. so i think the messages and the actions coming from the leadership have to be changed in order to give people confidence that they are on the right path

to the kind of future they seek. >> let's move to benghazi. there have been a lot of questions, you've answered a lot of questions. there's one in particular, you know, the signs were there, the british ambassador had been attacked, the walls of the embassy had been breached. why didn't you connect the dots, ask the question, wasn't it too dangerous for chris stevens, the ambassador who is one of the most valuable people you had in that region, why didn't you ask those questions? >> well, we were certainly aware of the increasing threat environment. i not only was briefed on that, i testified to that effect. and there were constant evaluations going on. but no one, not the ambassador, security professionals, the intelligence community ever recommended closing that mission. and the reason they didn't was because the ongoing threat environment had up until the spring before our terrible

attack in benghazi been a result of post-conflict conditions. that is something that we're familiar with all over the world. yes, there were some attacks, as you have said, but our evaluation of them and the recommendation by the security professionals was that those were all manageable because we had a lot of that around the world. i mean, there is a long list of attacks that have been foiled, assassination plots that have been prevented. so this is not some -- you know, one off event. this is considered in an atmosphere of a lot of threats and dangers. and at the end of the day, you know, there was a decision made that this would be evaluated but it would not be closed and, unfortunately, we know what happened. >> madam secretary, i want to read you the headline of an article in the la times today.

it said hillary clinton's legacy, splendid but not spectacular, that you were hugely popular in this administration and around the world but some of these big ticket items that we've been mentioning, particularly the middle east, iran, north korea, not solved, still untractable and maybe worst in some instances. is that what you think your legacy is? hugely popular but still not solved these issues? >> when you come into office, you inherit the world that it is in reality, not the way you wish it would be. and i think we have to go back to my beginning in january 2009 to remember how poorly perceived the united states was, how badly damaged the leadership was in

question, how the economic crisis had really shaken people's confidence in our government, our economic system, our country, part of my job in the very beginning was to get around the world and restore confidence in american leadership. sometimes against some pretty tough odds because people were pointing fingers at us, particularly over the financial crisis. but it was important to stabilize the situation which i think we did. i know the president was talking about that in an interview we did the other day, that -- you know, let's be realistic here about what the conditions were. we had the war in iraq that had to be wound down. we had a troop request for 30,000 troops sitting on the president's desk the first day he walked into the office. we had so many serious problem. and i don't think anybody can argue with what we did to try to set the table and then what did we do with that?

you know, you can go down the list and whether it's how we handled the arab spring and the work that had to be done in order to try to prevent even more serious challenges, how we put together international coalition to inflict the toughest sanctions on iran and north korea, not that those are solved. you know, diplomacy is sometimes building on steps one after the other, opening to burma, pivoting to asia and i'm very proud of what we've done. but equally so, we have practiced diplomacy and we also expanded the apiture. >> much more of the interview with the outgoing secretary of state. coming up, we're going to take a closer look at this exit interview. her legacy as secretary of state. much more on hillary clinton

here in "the situation room." also, an example of the country's deep division over gun control as a father of a 6-year-old massacre is interrupted at a public hearing. did you just turn your ringer off so no one would interrupt and.us?one. oh no, i... just used my geico app to get a tow truck. it's gonna be 30 minutes. oh, so that means that we won't be stuck up here, for hours, with nothing to do. oh i get it, you wanna pass the time, huh.

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take a closer look at the secretary state hillary clinton's exit interview with cnn, her legacy, her political future. joining us, two cnn contributors, cornell belcher and david frum. her legacy. she's very popular, hillary clinton. but her legacy over these four years, what she accomplished as secretary of state, david frum, what do you think about that? >> the obama administration and secretary of state were dealt a lot of problems but they are leaving behind a lot of problems. the interview dealt with the middle east. i think we have to stop calling

the events in middle east the arab spring. things clearly are getting worse and worse and worse. the situation on syria, all of those completely unresolved, especially in egypt. the interview dealt with what's going on the teu. the europeans have made a series of decisions that have pushed us deeper into a global recession and they have not listened to the united states. i think the obama administration is giving them good advice on what to do but they have not heeded it. >> early on in the obama administration you remember two very sensitive issues, the special envoys, richard holbrooke, george mitchell on the middle east peace project. was that a mistake? >> i don't think that was a mistake. if you look at the overarching ark of our foreign policy, democrats had a sizeable

advantage over republicans on the issues of foreign policy and keeping us safe. hillary clinton played a large role in that. if you look at -- i agree with you on the arab spring. got only knows what that is going to turn into. if you look at getting rid of gadhafi, and a large role in whether or not she runs for president because americans don't pay that much attention to foreign policy. >> if she's healthy, given the blood cloth and concussion, if she's healthy, do you think there's any doubt that she's still thinking about being the first woman as president of the united states? >> i have no idea what is in her head. she's certainly a strong institution of the democratic

party, certainly stronger than joe biden does. the foreign policy will loom large. we'll ask the question, so what did the obama administration's afghanistan surge accomplish exactly? they sent tens and thousands of additional troops, spent a lot of money. we are going to be out of afghanistan by 2017 with no better -- >> supposedly by 2014. end of 2014. >> but with no better outcome than if we had not done the surge in the first place. it's like the nursery rhyme, marching 10,000 men up the hill and then down again, what did that accomplish? and there's going to be a lot of questions about libya. one of the reasons that this benghazi is so painful, what really happened in libya? if libya is a playground for radical gangs after the overthrow of gadhafi, was it such a good idea to go to that war in the first place? >> these ideas are not going to be major fact fors? >> one, if you look at the way things are happening with the president and hillary clinton winding down our unpopular wars in afghanistan and pulling back

in iraq, i think most of the general public agrees with that. if you look at the job approvals, it's in the 60s. when is the last time we had such a favorable secretary of state. and by the way, before she was secretary of state, it was in the 50s. she exits as a larger official than she did beforehand. most americans see benghazi as a tragedy and they are not going to decide whether she's a good candidate based on benghazi. >> have you noticed the super pac is already be created for hillary? they are raising money already. are you surprised by that. >> no, i am not surprised at all. the way that -- look, i'm a consultant. i earn a living from this process. there's too much money in this process. the fact that we're having conversations about raising m millions and millions of dollars, somewhere in that the

voice of the democracy is more broadly lost. >> let's talk about massachusetts while i have you. scott brown. you think he's the former senator of massachusetts who lost to elizabeth warren. i think it's sometime at the end of june? >> he's a very active presence in social media. he has played very cautiously on some of these issues. he has not followed the temptation that some out of office republicans do making his message more extreme with a career in media. he has kept his message quite moderate. >> if he faces ed markee, democratic senator from -- elected senator, there will be an interim senator that could be a pretty exciting race between ed makee and scott brown. >> i think it will be an exciting race. the can key is, however, in looking at democrats and

senatorial and the obama coalition that turns out only for obama, i think democrats have to understand that that is a coalition that they have to work at. if the electorate looks like it did in 2012, 2010, they don't do so well. the key to any democrat, including hillary clinton, is to be able to put together that coalition. >> who do you think would win that? massachusetts is a pretty democratic state. >> what i would worry about is keeping an eye on a very dysfunctional and free-spending statehouse. but it's been a long time since they have sent a republican to national office. it's a very liberal state but one that is appropriate mistrustful. >> sources close to scott brown tell cnn and scott sis undecide and for an election date to be set. >> i bet he runs.

>> just being confirmed, 94-3 in the senate, 3 republicans voting against confirmation, there will be a vacancy. >> that may be more promising. >> for scott brown? >> for a republican in massachusetts that. is a good race for republicans in massachusetts. >> he does enter with high name definition that another candidate will have to spend to catch up with. >> guys, thanks for coming in. much more on the exit interview with hillary clinton and what she says about running for president in 2016. that's coming up in our next hour right here in the situation room. son was killed in newtown, connecticut, school massacre. now the father is heckled when he speaks out about gun laws. >> please continue. ground up

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we turn now to a plea for enforcement of gun laws from a father who lost his 6-year-old son in the newtown, connecticut, school massacre. it came at a hearing in connecticut and what happens next shows how deeply split the country is on this issue. jason carroll is joining us. what is this all about? >> first of all, let me just tell you, there's a lot of emotion on dealing with this particular issue. the community is still healing. parents are still grieving. when you saw 1,000 people pack the connecticut legislative office for a hearing on gun violence, several hours of testimony was filled with emotion as parents whose children were killed in the

sandy hook shooting spoke about the issue, they brought in pictures of their children and held them as they spoke. ne achlt l, whose 6-year-old son jesse was killed, says he supports more gun control. he talked for several minutes and paused after posing a question why anyone would need an assault weapon. gun advocates in the audience then shouted their response. the second amendment. take a listen. >> my name is neil hes lynn. jesse lewis was my son. he was a victim in sandy hook. he was my son, my buddy, my best friend. and i never thought i'd be here speaking like this asking for changes on my son's behalf. the happiest day of my life was

the day he was born. he is my only son and my only family. and the worst day of my life was the day i had -- when this happened and i buried him. >> please continue. >> we're not living in the wild west. we're not a third-world nation. we have the strongest military in the world. we don't need to defend our home with weapons like that. >> it's tough to tell from that audio there but when you saw heslin pause for a moment when he turned around, wolf, that's when you had those folks there in the audience shouting out about the second amendment. also in the audience, mark matiola, his son james who was also 6 years old and killed in the shooting. matiola attending the shooting and says more laws may not be the answer here. >> how do we expect to have any

impact on a society and say, we're going to pass a law? let's pass a law that will change the course of the future when we don't enforce the laws that we have on the books, the most important laws? >> again, this hearing taking place by a by partisan task force as it tries to come up with legislation for lawmakers. they are are asking limiting large magazines from 10 rounds to 30. a lot of folks in the audience from newtown. you can imagine, wolf, why there is emotion on both sides of the issue. >> i know you had a chance to speak with representatives from the gun industry. what did they say? >> one in particular, joe bartozi, a gun manufacturer, he was in the audience for part of

the hearing. did he feel like his point got across and he actually supports improving background checks but, once again, he feels as though increasing the legislation may not exactly be what is in order here. he did say that he understands why so many people feel so passionate on both sides of the issue. >> jason carroll, thanks very much for that report. the death toll is climbing in the devastating brazil fire. lisa sylvester is monitoring that. lisa, what's the late sneft. >> a forensic official is confirming that 244 people have died in the wake of that fire. that is up from the previous number, 231. 118 people remain hospitalized, many who suffered severe burns. police have arrested four people and questioned 20 others. the club was filled twice the legal capacity when the fire occurred. a guilty plea for bp with

crimes relating to the oil rig explosion, including manslaughter. the fine which both bp and the justice department agreed on is the largest criminal penalty in u.s. history. 11 workers were killed in the blast which triggered one of the worst oil spills this country has ever seen. and this may look like a giant soap sudden bath but look again. it is actually amazing video from australian television showing a sea of foam. this is a bizarre byproduct from the massive flooding hitting the region. the kids seem to be having fun with it. but further out it's making for dangerous conditions. looks like they are in a gigantic bathtub in there. >> that's what it looks like. all right. thanks very much, lisa. we're going to make a serious turn as the u.s. steps up humanitarian aid for syria. dozens, dozens of bodies are

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what's your policy? another day of mass killings in syria. activists reporting dozens of execution-style deaths at the hands of the government. the united states has stepped up its humanitarian aid for the country but the pleas for more money is only getting louder with the end of fighting with no end in sight. this report contains images that may be disturbing to some viewers. >> reporter: wolf, ale approximate. aleppo was the peaceful hub of syria and is now the horrifying sight of a massacre. the bodies are pulled from the

muddy water. young, shot at point blank in the head, too gruesome to show here. whether they floated into or were killed in this territory, nobody knew. but they kept coming. 65. then 91 as the river held forth another massacre. aleppo again dealt with the industrial scale of death. the regime reportedly blaming rebels, rebels blaming the regime and feared air force intelligence service who activists said have detained many of the dead. how and when does it stop was the question in paris hours earlier as opposition leaders told donors they need half a billion dollars to get a government together even though alone they still can't agree on a prime minister. time running out not just insued syria but outside where refugees numbered 700,000. barack obama moving to answer those who say america must do

more. >> i've approved an additional $155 million in humanitarian aid for people in syria and refugees fleeing the violence. here i want to speak directly to the people of syria. this new aid will mean more warm clothing for children and medicine for the elderly. flour and wheat for yaur families and blankets, boots, and stoves for those huddled in damaged building. it will mean health care for victims of sexual violence and field hospitals for the wounded. >> reporter: other donors will be asked for more as the bombs continue to fall around damascus and the shells fly as the unimaginable numbers of dead found in graves grow. wolf, of course, in the last four nights, aleppo university was bombed. 87 dead there. over 100 injured. the u.n. recently adjusting its death toll to 60,000 for this 22-month long conflict.

this seems to get deadlier and deadlier as each month passes. wolf? >> nick paton walsh, thank you. john kerry has just been confirmed overwhelmingly by the united states senate as the 58th secretary of state. the vote was 93 in favor, three republicans opposing. kerry is the second of the cabinet to be confirmed. he'll replace the outgoing secretary of state hillary clinton. so far, what's going on as far as the cabinet is concerned? how far is president obama gotten with his cabinet appointments? this is the cabinet as president obama began his second term last week but more than half of the cabinet members are definitely staying on. we still don't know what a couple of them are planning on doing while half of them are on their way out or already gone like timothy geithner. the president has nominated john kerry, jack lew, and chuck

hagel. as we just mentioned, kerry is the first to be confirmed as the next secretary of state. as president obama gives his full support to an overhaul of u.s. immigration laws, we're going to hear from a sharp critic of comprehensive immigration reform. he said that effort amounts to amnes amnesty for illegal immigrants.

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president obama's giving his full support to a bipartisan effort by u.s. senators to reform u.s. immigration law as the president says now is the time to replace the system he describes as out of date and badly broken. >> we have to deal with the 11 million individuals who are here

illegally. we all agree that these men and women should have to earn their way to citizenship. but for comprehensive immigration reform to work, it must be clear from the outset that there is a pathway to citizenship. >> joining us is congressman lou barletta, republican from pennsylvania. he's long favored cracking down on illegal immigrants. congressman, thanks very much for coming in. >> thanks, wolf. good to talk with you. >> what's wrong with the bipartisan proposals put forward in the senate? marco rubio has been working with democrats, john mccain, lindsey graham. they are all republicans. why do you disagree with them that there should be a pathway to citizenship, eventually down the road after overcoming many hurdles for these 11 million or so illegal immigrants? >> well, to put it in simple

terms, wolf, at your home you want to replace the carpet while there's still a hole in the roof. making a proposal like this will only make the problem worse. this is an invitation for millions to come to the united states illegally to take advantage of the benefits that being an american citizen has. we need to put the first things first and that's make sure our borders are secure, make sure we can track people when their visas expire, make sure we have a mandatory e-verify program in place so illegal immigrants cannot take jobs away from people. >> marco rubio, john mccain, lindsey graham, other republicans working with the democrats, they support getting much tougher on border security, as you do. why are they wrong in trying to work some kind of comprehensive immigration reform legislation right now?

>> well, this is 1986 all over again, wolf. at that time, if you remember, the american people were told that this will be a one-time deal where 1.5 million americans, or illegal aliens will get amnesty and it ended up being three million. now we're talking about 10 to 12 million will have a pathway to citizenship at a time when we do not have our borders secure which means that number will grow by millions. this is at a time when 22 million americans are out of work and the people hurt by this the most are the illegal immigrants, those that came here for a better opportunity in the united states and we're now going to bring in millions of people that compete for their jobs or, worse yet, put them out of a job. >> but these people are already here. what do you want to do with these 11 million people? >> womell, i want to do first things first. that's what i was taught when i was a little boy, is make sure

we secure the borders. that's what we should be talking about, making sure we can track people when their visas expire and make sure we enforce the laws we already have. immigration laws were put in place for two reasons. one, to protect the american worker and, two, to protect the american people. this is a national security issue. i want to know how dhs could possibly administer this program and do background checks on 12 million illegal aliens. the devil is in the details and we really need to be honest with the american people because we'll only be talking about this again five or ten years down the road and it will be more than we're talking about now. >> congressman, i don't think you answered the question. what would you do with those 11 million people? >> well, the answer, wolf, is we need to do first is make sure that the 11 million doesn't turn into 20 million and we need to enforce the laws we have. >> sir, what would you do with those 11 million people?

>> well, first thing we should do is enforce the laws and that would start to take care of the 11 million because when someone commits a crime here in the united states, they are to be deported. that's the laws we already have on the books. so if we enforce those laws, we'll begin to see this problem diminish because we will be, as we should be doing, enforcing the laws and make sure that the people that are here are here legally and not taking jobs illegally and we will see the problem begin to diminish but we can't do that or shouldn't even be talking about that until we make sure that this number won't increase like it did in 1986 and the problem will be worse. >> here's what you were quoted assaying in the morning newspaper in pennsylvania. i'll read it to you. anyone who believes that they are going to win over the latino vote is grossly mistaken. the majority here illegally are low-skilled or may not even have a high school diploma.

what did you mean by that? >> what i'm saying, wolf, many that are here illegally are working in lower paying jobs. in fact, there's an estimate that up to 60% may not have a dip employ diploma in the united states. they will be dependent on many of the government programs. so a recent study by the heritage foundation stated that by creating a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal aliens will cost the american taxpayers, and this is net, after tax revenue is realized, $2.6 trillion. and that's in costs in medicare, social security, unemployment compensation, food stamps and other welfare programs. that's a foundation study. so the bottom line is, we're trying to balance the budget in washington that we'll balance in ten years but not taking into account the 2.6 trillion that it will cost by creating a pathway

to citizenship and that number may increase, wolf, if we don't have our borders secured. >> one final question, because a lot of republicans are looking at the fastest growing vote, the hispanic vote across the country and republicans, at least in the last presidential election, the one before 2008, didn't do very well. they are obviously anxious to reach out to latino voters. are you saying you want to just forget about that vote? >> no. what i'm saying, wolf, is that anyone that believes that immigration or illegal immigration is the most important issue to the latino population in america is grossly mistaken. it is an issue but it's not the most important issue to latinos. listen, the people that are hurt the most are the immigrants that are here, those that came here for a better education, a better life. we are making them compete for jobs. we are taking away that opportunity that america is

supposed to be offering them. that's the message that we should be giving to the latino voters. simply granting amnesty is not the most important things in their life. they want a good job and good education for their children, just like you and i. >> very simply, they are not just simply being granted amnesty, they have to pay taxes and make sure they have not committed any crimes. there are a whole bunch of steps put forward that would be eligible for the pathway to citizenship and according to the senate legislation, be put at the end of the line. >> well, i don't know what that means back at the end of the line, because if i read it correctly, everyone can stay and keep a job in the united states, they don't have to leave. i don't know what the back of the line means it means for citizenship. >> well, if you look at the proposal, there's a lot that has to happen and i don't know if it could ever happen a background check, i know as a former mayor, how long, how difficult it is to do a criminal background check, a proper background check to make sure that no one slips

through the cracks here for national security reasons. i don't know how dhs can possible administer all of the proposals -- everything that is in this proposal, if i understand it correctly, they must learn english, they must learn specifics, they must have background checks. how will they aadminister this? will it be on a probationary amnesty or legal status indefinitely? >> they will be on that legal status, obviously, until they get citizenship if indeed they qualify for citizenship. it was good of you to join us. representative lou barletta is a republican from pennsylvania, a member of the house homeland security committee as well. he was the first u.s. service member to lose all four limbs in combat and survive. now he's making history again. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life.

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the u.s. war veteran lost all four of his limbs in battle. now thanks to a groundbreaking double transplant surgery, he has arms and a new chance at life, all dramatic developments. lisa sylvester has this extraordinary report. >> reporter: brandon morocco has had two recently miracles in his life. first, he survived. in 2009, his armored vehicle was hit by a bomb in iraq. he lost both legs and both arms, becoming the first u.s. service member to live through a quadruple amputation. but now another miracle. morocco has two new arms, transplanted six weeks ago by doctors at john hopkins hospital. >> it's given me a lot of hope for the future. i feel like i'm getting a second

chance to start over after i got hurt. i remember the -- when they had first taken the breathing tube out, i think the first thing i said was, "i love you." i was just happy. you know, i was happy that surgery was over and i had arms. >> reporter: a complicated surgery that involved connecting bones, blood vessels, nerves and muscles from a deceased donor to morocco's own. he's only the seventh person in the u.s. to have successful double hand transplants. for johnson hopkins hospital, this is the first surgery of its kind. doctors say he was the perfect candidate, upbeat and optimistic. >> since i got hurt, i still thought of myself as being normal. i hated the word "handicapped." i never really looked at it like that, so i'm just looking forward to do everything i would have wanted to do over the last four years. >> reporter: even something ordinary like scratching his

face is a victory. morocco says he can't fully feel his new arms, but he gaining function. he's able to text and comb his hair. doctors say if a few years, there's very little he won't be able to do. >> i think he'll be able to try and throw a football. i don't know if he'll be hitting 60-yard runs like joe flacco with the broncos, but i suspect he'll getcl"ññ there. >> reporter: first up on his list that he wants to do, driving his dodge charger sr-t8. >> yeah, it's the car. i can't give up because i haven't driven it yet. i think it's just kind of who i am. i never really gave up on too much that really mattered to me. >> reporter: morocco says the first person he wants to shake hands, that is, after his doctors, country music star blake shelton. right now, he has enough use of his new arms to give hiscx2 mom hug this way. >> you know, for now.

you know, when he's able to -- you know, he can't lift. but we'll get there. he's a tough cookie, without a doubt. he's not changed that and he's just taken it and made it an form. you know, he's never going to stop. he's going to be that boy i always knew was going to be a pain in my butt forever and he's going to show people how to live their life. >> now, there actually was a third miracle. i said two miracles at the beginning of that story, but the nonprofit group, building homes for heroes, they built a house for him back in 2011 on staten island. now, you can take a look at these pictures. i shows the destruction caused by superstorm sandy, but his house is still standing with only minimal damage. wolf, pretty amazing story. >> the third nice miracle, that his house survived sandy. >> you know, you clearly get the sense, this guy must have been born under a lucky star. because the fact that he is still alive today, i mean, he

lost both arms, he lost both legs. he is still aleiv today, and to have the successful surgery, having new arms, and then on top of that, his house was spared by superstorm sandy, wolf. >> we wish him only the best and we thank him for his service as well. lisa, thanks for sharing that report with our viewers. we're going to have much more on cnn's exit interview with the secretary of state hillary clinton, including what she says about possibly running for president in 2016. that's coming up right at the top of the hour.

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then you're going to love this. right now they're only $14.95! wow-a grt deal just got a whole lot better. hurry. $14.95 won't last. happening now, hillary clinton opens up to cnn about her next adventure and how her husband and daughter may be involved. the president reveals he has a plan "b" if the new push for immigration reform stalls in congress. yankees' star alex rodriguez responds to bombshell allegations about a miami clinic and performance enhancing drugs. and american woman, the mother of two mysteriously vanishes during a vacation overseas. and we'll talk to a survivor of a plane crash in the icy hudson river as he listens to that 911 call that helped save his life. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

hillary clinton is certainly used to getting lots of attention, good and bad, after decades in the national political spotlight. but in her last few days as secretary of state, there's enormous interest in her, both personally and politically. and of course, everyone wants to know if she'll run for president again. our foreign affairs correspondent, jill daugherty, and our foreign affairs reporter, elise labott, they sat down with the secretary over at the state department today to talk about what she's accomplished and what she will do next. >> let me ask you about women, madame secretary. you broke a lot of glass ceilings. you brought women a lot in leadership to the state department. you've said this is your life cause to end the double standard. you're leaving office, four top positions in this administration in the cabinet. none of them are women. is that a problem? >> i think you have to wait to see the entire makeup -- >> but top four positions, top four secretaries that are

considered crucial to this administration, particularly to national security. >> i'm not going to pass any judgments. i think what we have to do is take a look at the broad picture. but clearly, from my perspective, we have to keep providing opportunities for young women to get into that pipeline, so that they -- >> there are no women out there for these top positions? >> oh, no, obviously, i think there are. but i think that there is still a ways to go until we have the kind of critical mass that i want to see. and you know, we made progress in the number of women in the senate, but it is still abysmally small. you know, there are so many, on the one hand this, on the other hand, that. we make progress, there is no denying that, but we haven't firmly institutionalized that process. and as much as we have done here, i look around the world, and my goodness, there are so much to be done. >> well, there are a lot of women leaders around the world. in april, you told wolf blitzer for 2016, that's not in your

future, but you seem to be leaving some wiggle room there. have you decided? >> no, no. i am so looking forward to monday, when i have no schedule, no office to go to, no responsibilities -- >> you know the field -- i'm sorry, madame secretary, you know the party says that the field is clear and open for you, until you make your decision. have you decided that you absolutely will not run? >> well, i have absolutely no plans to run. >> but look at -- you're not -- this is not a shermanesque statement. i will tnot run. we heard this morning, all of these people asking you if you're going to run. there's a pac just registered, ready for hillary. >> is there really? >> are you going to tell these people to stand down? everyone is waiting for that -- >> well, right now, i'm trying to finish my term as secretary of state, and the president and i had a good laugh the other night, because, you know, i am out of politics right now. and i don't know everything i'll be doing. i'll be working on behalf of, you know, women and girls, i'll be hopefully writing and speaking.

those are the things that i'm planning to do right now. >> let's talk about, you said that monday morning, we presume next week -- >> yes, yes. >> okay, you wake up, maybe you stay in your pajamas. what do you do? >> i don't know! it's been my whole life. i mean, i've had a job ever since i was 13 years old. when i wasn't in school, i was working. >> is it going to be traumatic? you know, your blackberry, are you going to check -- what are you -- >> i don't know. i think it's going to take some adjustment. i've been talking to colleagues who left the government earlier. the most important thing they said to me, don't make any decisions, you have no idea how tired you are. and i think there's truth to that. your viewers know because they're interested in these issues, this is a 24/7 job, because there's no part of the world that we can ignore. maybe four years, eight years, 12 years, maybe 20, 30, 40 years, there were big chunks of the world that were not of direct interest to our security

or other matters that we were concerned about. >> but how did you get the energy -- i mean, are you going to be able to stop? are you going to be able to stop? >> well, you know, you'll have to talk to me in a few weeks to see how i'm doing. i think that -- i'm really looking forward to it. i know it sounds, you know, vague, because, i have never done this before in my life. so, when i wake up, monday, tuesday, el2ñwednesday, to have luxury of nowhere to go, nothing to do, no frantic call about calling some leader about some impending crisis, i'm actually interested to see how that goes. >> now, what about your health? because i do have to ask you this. we talked with a couple of doctors and they say that if you have had one blood clot, there is two times the)&k chance thatu will have another one. i mean, is this something that you're going to have to deal with for a long time -- >> well, millions of people do. it's very common. >> will you take medication?

>> well, that's what people do when they have blood clots. and then you get evaluated after the blood clot has resolved, because, as you say, i've experienced this before. but i am lucky, because i've been very healthy. i feel great. i've got, you know, enormous amounts of energy that have to be harnessed and focused. and i'm looking forward to this next chapter in my life, whatever it is. >> before you leave -- before you leave -- >> yeah, be subtle, but persistent about it. >> before you leave, normally, a secretary leaves a gift for the next secretary coming in, can we -- can you tell everybody in the world what you're -- >> no, i'm not going to tell you. i'm going to let that be between john and me. john and i have been friends and colleagues for a very long time, and he's extremely well prepared, as you know, for this job. and i think he doesn't need very much gifting, but, you know, i've got something that might help. >> just one last question about

the family. you've got president clinton, international health. you have chelsea, who studied international health. >> right. >> you're interested in women, development, health issues. so what do you do? is there a chance that you would all work together? >> i hope so. that's one of the things we have to really work out is, i'm very proud of what my husband has done in the last ten years. i mean, his foundation, his entrepreneurial philanthropy with the clinton global initiative, his great work on getting the price of aids drugs down, so that more people could get treatment and so much else. and he is also focused on the health of children here in this country, through the healthy alliance. so he's doing things that resonate with me, as well as with him. and we're going to look to see how we can join our efforts together. >> what about chelsea? >> she's, she's great. >> she says she wants to lead a life of public service. that makes you proud. is she going to run? family business? >> i think she is really focused

on the philanthropy. you know, she did a great, great service after hurricane sandy. she took a large group, about a thousand people that were put together through our foundation and through cgi to go and do a lot of difficult manual work for people who had been just devastated. you know, she and bill and i, we are -- we just have public service in our dna. that doesn't have to be political service, it can be what we're doing now and what bill has been doing now. so i think we'll work all of that out. it's going to be fun to talk it through and figure out, you know, what our next adventures might be. >> well, madame secretary, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we wish you a lot of good health and a lot of adventures. >> i think we'll have some adventures. and maybe the two of you can come along again some time. >> we'd love that! we'd love that. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i want to thank jill dougherty and elise labott for doing that excellent interview. and i suspect they will have some more adventures down the

road. kate balduan is here. i think the secretary is sort of savoring this moment. >> i think if you can take one thing away from all of these exit interviews, she's definitely savoring her exit out the door. she's having a lot of fun with it, for sure. and there's certainly a lot to digest from the interview we've been watching from elise and jill, so let's bring in our gloria borger along with ryan lizza, joining us from the new yorker. hi, there. >> how's it going? >> good. >> gloria, even if she wants to stay out of the spotlight, there's no way she's going to be able to -- she is hillary clinton. she'll be in the spotlight, no matter what her next adventure is. >> well, we're already asking her about 2016, so of course she's going to be in the spotlight. i'm sure she's going to take a little bit of a break, but i doubt she'll be off her blackberry. and there's a political team in waiting for her, should she decide to run. i'm sure she wants to get off

the international kind of treadmill that she's been on, but she's a clinton. she will always be in the spotlight. she will always be interesting. whatever she does, wolf, you know this, will be of interest to all of us, what she decides to do next, if she writes her memoirs, i'm sure they'll be really well-read, as her first book was. so i think, you know, we're always going to be paying attention to hillary clinton, whether she runs or not. >> and ryan, you've followed hillary clinton from campaign to this point, very closely. i want to ask you about her legacy. that's the big question now. i mean, she's hugely popular here and abroad. but as it is often noted, she doesn't have any of those major accomplishments. none of the big problems were solved under her watch. though she often says that a lot of her job has been rebuilding confidence in american leadership around the world, but what do you think her legacy will be? i mean, the question now is, will she go down as one of the best secretaries of state? >> well, as of right now, you

know, these things change over time, depending on how events and her tenure looks ten years from now. she was hemmed in by a couple of things. one, foreign policy is made in the white house, right? policy is made in the white house. that's a trend just across the modern era of presidencies. more and more policy gets concentrate there had. and her staff's always had a little bit of a tension with the obama folks in the white house. that never was totally erased. but i think she did a couple of -- she'll be judged on a couple of big things. one, the arab spring. she was deeply involved in dealing with mubarak's fall, in dealing with post-revolutionary egypt in tunisia. wolf and i were on a trip with her at one point, where she was knee-deep in the negotiations. >> and that story's not yet fully written. >> we don't know. >> and the other is libya. she pushed very hard for intervention in libya and the tale there still isn't told. something a little less heralded is diplomacy with asia. a big part of the obama administration is to improve relations with countries that are not china and asia. sort of this soft containment. she was very deeply involved in

one of the architects of that strategy, something that hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but a lot of the obama folks think will be an important legacy of that administration. >> let's bring gloria back into this conversation. you did an excellent interview with the vice president, joe biden, last week. and you spoke a little bit about 2016, with him. do you believe, and it's obviously very early, and only political news junkies like us speculate about this, but we will, because it's fun. do you believe it's possible we could see a match between hillary clinton and joe biden for the democratic presidential nomination three years from now in iowa and new hampshire? >> you know, actually, wolf, i don't.cás+ decide to run, i think joe biden probably wouldn't, if i had to guess. and this is just a guess. i don't think you're going to see a divisive democratic primary. i think that hillary clinton has such broad and deep support within the democratic party,?rf don't know what ryan thinks about this, but i have a sense

that if the democrats felt they had a really good shot at it and the nomination were to go to a woman, she wouldn't have to fight her way, as she did the last time around, i think, there's a sense that perhaps joe biden would not run. >> and i think there's going to be a lot of jockeying between the two of them to see if one or the other can squeeze them out. and the big question is, what does barack obama do? remember, ronald reagan had this difficult decision when george w.w. bush was deciding to run, of how far neutral he would be in that primary, did he favor his vice president or not? so that's going to be a question for obama at some point. does he favor a biden run or a hillary run? >> ryan lizza and gloria borger, two of the excellent, excellent analysts we have. >> excellent. and you can watch jill and elise's entire interview with the secretary of state hillary clinton by going to cnn.com. it's right there on our home page. i recommend you take a look. it's a conflict half a world away. french forces battling terror groups in west africa. up next, why u.s. troops are now

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is your cholesterol at goal? talk to your doctor about crestor. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. the united states military is getting involved on a new front against al qaeda in central africa. american forces will aid the battle against islamic rebels in mali by deploying troops and drones to the country right next-door. our pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence, is joining us with details. chris, how many u.s. forces, first of all, are we talking about? >> potentially, hundreds, wolf. and here's why. niger's ambassador to the u.s. basically confirms to cnn that his country is going to allow the u.s. military to place drones in niger. a u.s. official tells me that if that were to happen, you'd have to have an infrastructure there. in other words, you'd have to have operators to fly and guide

the drones, as well as u.s. military security personnel to protect that infrastructure. so that's where you could get into the hundreds of boots on the ground. these drones would be unarmed, they would primarily be used for surveillance, spying on the al qaeda groups operating in places like mali. right now, the u.s. has drone bases in ja bu ty and southern europe, but the drones can't fly that far, so it's difficult to get accurate intelligence on what's going on with the militants there, wolf. >> how big is a threat of al qaeda in what's called the islamic maghreb in north africa? >> right now to our homeland, to the u.s. itself, not much. but that still means they can be a threat to americans working abroad. look at what happened to the consulate in benghazi, look wlapd to the americans working

at that algerian gas field. the pentagon is taking the long sl view on this. >> well, i'm unaware of any specific or credible information at this time that points to an aqim threat against the homeland, but again, i'm not ruling it out. we take al qaeda wherever they are very seriously. and we are not going to rest on our laurels until we find that that kind of specific and credible information, at that point, it could be too late. >> there is a more immediate concern, because there are very large, you know, west african immigrant communities in certain places in europe, like france. there is a concern that if these militants establish a base in some place like mali, they could start reaching out to that immigrant community and plan strikes in europe, wolf. >> you also have some new information on a story we first brought our viewers yesterday here in "the situation room." update them. >> that's right, wolf. we're talking about this massive arms shipment that the yemeni

authorities captured. a sailboat full of arms. basically, now, what a u.s. official is telling us is they've confirmed that there are certain markings on those weapons that confirm that they came from iran. specifically, iran's revolutionary guard corps. we're talking about explosives, heavy ammunition. but most importantly, some surface-to-air missiles, the kind that could shoot down civilian or military aircraft. we know that the u.s. special operations forces have been training forces in yemen, also conducting drone strikes there. if iran is providing that kind of heavy weaponry, it really raises the stakes in this sort of proxy fight over yemen, wolf. >> chris lawrence, at the pentagon, with important information. chris, thank you. speech for president obama, but immigration plan may have little to no chance of passing in congress. plus, meet the senator praised today as the best python

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the death toll climbs in that fiery nightclub disaster. kate's here. she's got that and some of the other top stories. what a horrible, horrible situation. >> and the death toll is rising, as you just said, wolf. brazilian officials confirm three more deaths, bringing the total now to 243 people, some 75 victims are in critical condition still. and police now say the band's fireworks, which sparked the inferno in brazil were designed for outdoor use. investigators have also discovered the nightclub's fire license was expired. they've also found evidence of fire extinguishers that were

faulty and even fake. continue to follow that story, of course. and results from the investigation into battery problems on the boeing dreamliner, they are inconclusive. the lithium ion batteries are blamed for two incidents, including a fire on one plane that led the faa to ground the global fleet of 787s. the batteries for the american-made planes are made in japan and both parties are now taking part in the probe. this afternoon, the senate voted 94-3, that's pretty overwhelming, to confirm john kerry as the next secretary of state. kerry himself voted present. you can see him down there on the lower right-hand corner there, shaking hands with some the three no vote came dpr john = ted cruz and james inhofe of oklahoma. kerry gives a farewell speech in the senate tomorrow. and florida's two u.s. senators, they come from different parties, but today democratic senator bill nelson praised republican senator marco rubio's efforts on comprehensive

immigration reform. senator rubio's response was to say the least, unusual. >> let me just begin by thanking the senior senator from the state of florida, who a few moments ago made some very kind remarks about me and i appreciate that very much. and let me just say, you are the best python you aren't in the senate, and those who don't know what i'm talking about, can look it up in the newspaper accounts of your endeavors a few weeks ago in the everglades. >> so we did have to look it up and we did. senator nelson went python hunter to draw attention to have the problem of pet owners letting their pets go free. there are thriving pythons becoming a danger to wildlife and humans. the best python hunter in the senate. a pretty good title. >> maybe the only python hunter. >> have you ever gone -- >> no, and i don't think. that should be your next assignment.

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president obama isn't taking anything for granted in his new push for comprehensive immigration reform. he actually revealed today, he has a backup plan. >> that's what he said, he has a backup plan. the president laid out his vision for comprehensive reform in las vegas, and he warned he'd get more aggressive if new momentum in congress stalls. our chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin, has more. >> reporter: just one week into his second term, president obama was back on the campaign trail. >> i'm here today because the time has come for common sense, comprehensive immigration reform. >> reporter: in obama blue nevada, where one in four residents is latino, the president vowed to overhaul the

nation's immigration system. he promised to strengthen enforcement at the workplace, stepping up penalties for hiring undocumented workers. streamline the legal immigration system for high-skilled workers. and at the center of his plan, create a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, already living in the united states. >> we've got to lay out a path, a process that includes passing a background check, paying taxes, paying a penalty, learning english, and then going to the back of the line. >> reporter: he also issued this warning. >> and if congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, i will send up a bill based on my proposal, and insist that they vote on it right away. >> reporter: the president's critics are howling. when senator marco rubio defended reform to rush limba h limbaugh, he got an earful. >> what you are doing is

admirable and noteworthy. you are recognizing reality. my concern is the president wants people to believe something that isn't true, that you really don't want an improved life for hispanics, that you really are still racist. >> reporter: but conservatives on capitol hill are more supportive. in a statement released after the president's speech, senator john mccain said, "i am cautiously optimistic that working together, we will find common ground." now, wolf, republicans on capitol hill say there are two main differences between their vision for reform and the president's. the president's proposal, they point out, does not include a guest worker program and it does not include a precondition that the border be certified secure before the 11 million can begin a path to citizenship. aides here say the president would be open to a guest worker program. as for what's next, senator patrick leahy, in the u.s. senate, will hold the first hearings on immigration reform the day after the state of the

union on february 13th. kate? >> and jessica, this is his first out of town trip since the inauguration. what's the strategy behind the president kind of taking it on the road, going before the supportive crowd to make this big speech on immigration? >> reporter: well, as you might recall on election night, i reported that the president will begin his second term by taking his case to the people. he thought that in his first term, his biggest mistake was not rallying the american people to support his key issues. and he said he will correct that. and that's what he's doing on what is one of his top two legislative priorities for his second term. taking his case to the people who he thinks will help pressure congress to get this done. and he did it in a state that he won by a large majority in nevada, and where one out of four people is latino. so he's hoping it will be a grassroots movement to get this done fast, kate. >> you made the prediction on election night and looks like you were spot-on. jessica yellin at the white house tonight, thanks, jessica.

>> she's an excellent, excellent reporter. let's get some reaction from the president's speech from some young people with a huge and very direct stake in immigration reform. cnn's miguel marquez is joining us now with some students in savannah, georgia. how's the reaction over there, miguel? >> reporter: well, the reaction was immediate, wolf. we were here with a large group of students at armstrong atlantic state university here in savannah. they watched the president's speech, they applauded along with all those students watching in nevada, as they were watching the president's speech. the kids here, very much in tune with what the president is speaking, and you wouldn't think that georgia would be, you know, on the radar where latinos are states, it's in the top ten of latino populations and in the south and midwest are some of the fastest growing populations for latinos. and it's for one simple reason. there's jobs here, and the demographics are changing and that's why republicans and democrats are now seemingly coming together. if you could come back live, we have a group here that have

stuck around for you guys at "the situation room." these are all students. there's a very aggressive program of recruiting here at armstrong atlantic state university, of latinos and undocumented latinos. i want to ask you guys, how many of you guys are undocumented here in the group? and how many of you have deferred action, the program that the president put into -- and how many of you are applying for it? how many of you have parents or siblings that arebgv undocument here? quite a few. and if you could vote today, would you vote for a democrat? raise your hands. republican. raise your hands? none. somewhere in between, maybe? one or two. and let me -- if i could, just talk to a couple of you folks real quick, what is your name? >> talia ramirez. >> reporter: and i take it you've been watching this very closely, this discussion play out. what did you make of the president's speech today? do you think something will really happen on immigration now? >> i honestly do think that some

time in the future, something the going to happen, because we have so many people now that are whorking towards it. there are not just one or two people dreaming towards it. we're not just talking about it now. it's this huge action you have from students and parents and everybody. >> reporter: thanks very much. wolf, that's very much the reaction everywhere across the country. a lot of hope that something will final get done on immigration. back to you. >> miguel, thanks very much with and thanks to the students for sticking around. still ahead, an american woman is missing overseas. we have new video of her on vacation in turkey before she mysteriously disappeared. [ female announcer ] when a woman wears a pad

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an amazing story. an american woman traveling overseas mysteriously vanishes.

>> we've heard stories like this before, but this time the backdrop is turkey, a key u.s. ally in the muslim world. global politics don't matter to the woman's family. her husband, her kids, who are desperate right now to find her. here's cnn's ivan watson. >> wolf and kate, turkish and american authorities are working together to try to solve the mystery of an american woman who disappeared here in istanbul while on vacation more than a week ago. and turkish police have released this missing woman, just about a day before she disappeared. a lone american woman on vacation in turkey's largest city. this video, released by turkish police, shows a 33-year-old mother of two in an is tan bull shopping mall on january 20th. she hasn't been heard from, her worried husband says with, in more than a week. >> you know the fear that i'm not there to protect her. you know?

and that bothers me. >> reporter: sierra flew to istanbul on january 7th. it was this native new yorker's first international trip, family and friends say, and she made the transatlantic journey solo. >> she did a lot of homework before she left. she did a lot of researching about the area, about where she was going to stay, the safest places to go and the time of days to travel. >> reporter: sierra's instagram feed shows photos of istanbul's stunning skyline and mosques. it also shows photos of the train station and infrastructure in amsterdam. turkish police say sierra flew from turkey to the netherlands on january 15th and returned to turkey four days later. the manager of sierra's hotel in istanbul told cnn he last saw her on january 20th, the same night this security camera video was shot. she left her passport and most of her belongings behind in the

hotel, family members say, but not her ipad, which she appeared to be using in the food court of the shopping mall. this week, sierra's husband and brother traveled from new york to istanbul. on tuesday, they spent the day at police headquarters here, meeting with officers from the) missing persons unit, both american and turkish authorities are working hand in hand on the search. >> all authorities, everyone from the u.s. to the locals in turkeys are working this as a missing person. they've elevated it to every level possible. the bureau chief of missing persons is looking. so i know they're conducting a very logical investigation and they are pulling out all the stops. >> reporter: while investigators work, family and friends hope and pray they can soon bring this missing mother back to her children. a church in new york has helped raise money for the brother and husband of sierra, to make the trip here to istanbul to help in the search for their missing

loved one. as for the family and especially the children, they're not being told right now that their mother has gone missing. wolf, kate? >> ivan watson reporting. such a sad story. i hope they find this woman. >> as he said in the piece, it seems that there's little more that the poor family can do, other than hope and pray. i mean, she just seems to have disappeared. >> i'm sure turkish authorities are doing everything they can. >> what a scary story for anyone that travels abroad, right? meanwhile, new allegations of performance enhancing drug use are rocking major league baseball once again. including yankees star -- >> a-rod. alex rodriguez is responding to this bombshell report. he's denying he was treated by the head of a south florida clinic at the center of this brewing scandal. cnn's john zarrella is following this story in miami. john, another sports scandal a-brewing. >> reporter: boy, it sure is, kate and wolf. and behind me in this office building, we talked to tenants

here who say, up until just a couple of weeks ago, an anti-aging clinic was operating out of there and then the people that ran it just stopped showing up, probably for good reason. the anti-aging clinic was called biogenesis. it was run out of this office building in coral gables, florida, until about two weeks ago, when it shut down. now, the vacant business is in the center of yet another saga of performance enhancing drugs, peds, and major league baseball players. a report published in the miami new times says this clinic was a pipeline to peds for several players. >> well, it's clear that biogenesis, like a lot of anti-aging clinics, was selling an awful lot of hdhh, and a number of other drugs that are widely banned in sports, testosterone, anabolic steroids. you know, the records that we've seen indicate that, you know, as for the average population, he was providing these same kind of drugs to professional athletes.

>> reporter: and they're banned substances? >> that's correct. >> reporter: according to major league baseball, three players named in the article, which links them to the clinic, have already been disciplined under the league's joint drug program. in a statement, major league baseball says, "we are in the midst of an active investigation and are gathering and reviewing information. we will refrain from any further comment until this process is complete." representatives of new york yankee alex rodriguez, identified in the "new times" article, but not named as being disciplined, issued this outright denial. "the news reports about a purported relationship between alex rodriguez and anthony bosch are not true. alex rodriguez was not mr. bosch's patient. he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him." gonzalez, a washington nationals pit

pitcher, who was also mentioned in the article tweeted, "i've never used performance enhancing drugs of any kind and i never will. i've never met or spoken with tony bosch or used any substances." tony bosch ran the clinic in the building where it was located. we've tried but have not been able to reach bosch for comment. the dea wouldn't comment on whether bosch or the clinical is being investigated. in its statement, they reiterated that there is no place in the game for banned substances, but clearly from america's pastime, the issue is far from in the past. wolf and kate, the tenants we talked to all said shortly after they saw these people and no longer saw them, they got a flyer from the management company here with a picture of tony bosch on it saying, if any of you people in the building see this man, please call us, because he's not supposed to be here. wolf, kate? >> we'll have to see how it all unfolds. those are some pretty strong denials from those players.

we'll be following closely. john, thank you. >> firm denials, indeed. we've seen this before. a plane crash in the hudson river, this time, only two people on board. one of them is telling us their freezing survival story. >> my mind just went blank. that's how cold it was. within minutes, i couldn't feel my feet, my hands, my arms. [ male announcer ] pillsbury grands biscuits.

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it's being called another miracle on the hudson, almost exactly four years after a us airways flight landed in the icy waters, it has now happened again. this time, the pilot and the student on a small plane, they are fine.

cnn's mary snow talked to one of them. mary, tell us about it. >> well, wolf, it started out as a leisurely flight sunday from new jersey to new york, as da darkness was trouble, the pilot landed on the river. one of two people on board said he feared not being found because he worried that police might think his call to them was a prank. since the plane sank out of sight so quickly. rescuers had their doubts regarding survival. a small single engine plane lurched into the frigid hudson river with two people on board. >> are you still on the plane? >> we are in the plane. the plane is taking on water. >> okay. is it possible for you to get out? >> we can get out if we have to. >> okay. i need you to get out. >> get out. get out. get out. >> get out of the plane. >> the plane is definitely, we're going down. >> when you hear those 911 tapes, what goes through your head?

>> it puts me right back in the water. >> reporter: student pilot christopher smit and his instructor had enough time to get lifevests on before they were plunged into the freezing water and strong current. >> okay. where is -- >> the water is freezing. the water is freezing. >> i know. i understand that. but i need you to get out of the plane so you're not trapped in the plane. >> all right. we're out. >> i'm sorry? >> i'm not going to make it to shore. >> my mind just went blank. that's how cold it was. within minutes, i couldn't feel my feet, my hands, my arms. but denise was very verbal when we were in the water. >> reporter: she says she credits her survival training skills as a former flight attendant now turned pilot for helping them survive. but timing was everything. several off-duty police officers just happened to be in the area and got access to a small boat, all the while smit yelled for

help. >> i could hear myself echoing so i knew i was carrying. somebody yelled back and said we know you're in the water, we know where you are, help is coming. >> reporter: after roughly 30 minutes in the icy waters, the two were pulled to safety and treated for hypothermia. two days later, alongside the first responders who saved him, smit revealed he had first called his wife before dialing 911 to make sure his family knew he loved them. among the rescuers, officer daniel higgins and his 12-year-old son. the officer admitted he didn't think there was much of a chance at a successful rescue. >> very slim. you know, a lot of people said that and i'm just glad it was a rescue and not a recovery. >> smit says his instructor bought the plane days earlier and it was a model from the 1960s. the ntsb is investigating what happened. he says really it was a matter of minutes before that rescue could have turned into a recovery. wolf? >> they are both very, very lucky indeed. mary, thanks for that report.

appreciate it very much. they are. >> so lucky. that instructor, what a hero in trying to get out of that plane. >> amazing. >> oh, my god. i have goosebumps thinking about how cold that water is. oh, my goodness. very, very lucky. still ahead, here's a question for you. what do doughnuts and marriage proposals have in common? ponder that one. jeanne moos will have that next. ♪ good morning, turtle. ♪ my friends are all around me ♪ my friends, they do surround me ♪ ♪ i hope this never ends ♪ and we'll be the best of friends ♪ ♪ all set? all set. [ male announcer ] introducing the reimagined 2013 chevrolet traverse,

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fair warning, friends. look away now if you are afraid of heights. that is nick wallenda keeping up his family tradition of daredevil stunts. he successfully walked across a high wire strung 180 feet over a florida highway. despite stronger than expected winds, there was no net, no safety tether, just 600 feet of pavement down below. he gave props to his legendary grandfather, karl, saying he would have made the stunt even more difficult by doing a headstand halfway through. that is quite a stunt that i shall not be replicating. >> not doing that. no pythons. no walking -- >> we're boring, apparently. >> not me. all right. we may not be able to settle the question of which state has the worst drivers but jeanne moos has the latest examples of why

you might want to consider california. >> reporter: getting stuck in a traffic jam is bad enough, but how about getting stuck on an interstate because some idiots are doing doughnuts? or maybe you would be more understanding if freeway traffic came to a halt because a couple hundred bikers were helping their buddy get down on one knee to propose to his biker girlfriend. >> man, did anybody roll past and curse at you guys? >> no. >> okay. man, i would have seriously been p.o.'ed over that one. >> reporter: while both these things happened on california highways in a single weekend, about half a dozen cars started doing doughnuts in the middle of the 880 freeway in oakland. so while motorists sit fuming in backed up traffic, stunts like these are over so quickly that police don't have time to intervene. the eyewitness who took this

video from the opposite lane says she was worried. >> i thought he was going to hit the wall and maybe come over on our side of the freeway. >> reporter: the california highway patrol says it's trying to decipher license plates and is asking the public to help identify cars with features that stick out like orange rims. it's a little harder to get mad at a guy who arranges for pink smoke to come out of his tires. he proposes his girl to the 10 freeway in l.a. paige hernandez just thought she was going on a unity ride with her boyfriend, hector martinez and 200 or 300 other bikers. d.j. bigboy interviewed the couple. >> when he got off, that's when i was confused. >> reporter: who the heck was hector waving at? >> i had all of my family and her family up on the overpass. >> reporter: in less than two minutes, the proposal was over and once again, traffic flowed.

as one poster put it, they must be a very special couple to inconvenience the rest of the world. as for the doughnut break, it lasted a minute and a half. >> let's go! >> reporter: when you hijack a highway and post it on youtube, you may not get off the freeway scot-free. >> have the authorities got in contact with you yet? >> no. >> because you're definitely going to jail. >> reporter: still, those revving engines are such an after fr aphrodisiac. jeanne moos, cnn. >> a little dangerous, reckless but i guess romantic. >> how do you get pink smoke to come out? >> because it's engagement. >> i have no idea. i just know california traffic is already bad. >> you ever do any of those doughnuts? >> no, no. i would never say it on live tv if i did. >> we're not doing it either. you can always follow us on twitter.